Sermon (February 7, 2010)

“Here We Are – For Better or Worse”
Isaiah 6:1-8 and Luke 5:1-11


Our readings this week are both call stories. Which is church language for “a story in which God calls on someone, and that person's life is changed by responding.” These stories are particularly important, because they speak to us about how God has been heard in the past – which is meant to inform us about how God may be heard in the present.

God uses a lot of means of communication, and with all the ones in the Bible -and some of them are WEIRD – they're still just a small set of examples of God's work. We still learn a lot from them though.

Isaiah's call, by our best guess, happened when he was in worship at the Temple. He has a vision of God sitting on a throne, and the hem of the robe of the Lord is so big that it fills the whole Temple. A fabulous point here: God sometimes speaks during worship! Further, God speaks sometimes to just one of the people who are present, and in a unique way, and not always from the worship itself. This vision was Isaiah's alone. God spoke while Isaiah was present and seeking God, but others who were doing the same were not called that day.

A second point: it appears that experiences of God are awe-striking. Pretty much everyone in the Bible, when they get close to the Divine One, responds “AHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm not Good Enough!” Isaiah is no different. He responds that he is unclean. EVEN THOUGH he would have cleaned himself in order to enter the Temple. God's response, however, is to symbolically remove objections. The uncleanness is made clean. Isaiah doesn't get out of the work. And, once God has acted to both call and remove the barriers, THEN Isaiah speaks the words “Here I am, send me.” I rather like it that God does all the acting! We often sing the hymn, but its good to notice that Isaiah speaks his faith and his willingness – AFTER God has prepared him. We don't have to be ready for what hasn't happened yet, and we will be prepared for what we are asked to do. God isn't calling everyone to the same work, or at the same time, or even at the same rate. BUT, God is faithful to prepare us. Phew – that's some pressure off!

Peter's experience is VERY similar to Isaiah's. At first there is just frustration, then Jesus comes and there is a sign of God's power and goodness. Then, when Peter is overwhelmed by God's closeness, Peter also responds with his unworthiness, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" And the response is still the same as well. “Do not be afraid.” We humans apparently need to hear that a lot! But then, as well, the sinfulness is not a barrier. Jesus changes Peter's life by calling on him to leave the fish and seek out people. Its rather amusing really: The fisherman can't get any fish, so Jesus has him pull in a HUGE catch as a way to tell him that his fishing days are over. God's sense of humor, as per usual.

These call stories are profound, the men who experienced them had radically different lives afterward. Isaiah became a prophet – going around sharing God's desire for justice with the people as a full time “job.” Peter left all that he knew and followed Jesus. His house, his friends, his family, his profession, his possessions – they all stayed behind.

I suspect, although the Gospels don't mention it, that as hard as that seems, it was really a blessing for Peter. He was totally free! A fisherman who fished all night without a catch would be worrying about having enough for the family and for the market – worried about well being for that day and that week. But those worries were left behind. The care for the nets (which occupied a lot of the land time of fisherman) and the stability of the boat, and …. all the work that has to be done to maintain possessions got left behind as well.

I think about it sometimes. My car, which serves me so well to get me from one place to another, also has its own hold on me. I pay its insurance bill, and for gas, and maintenance. I always have thoughts in the back of my head about when I'll need to get gas, when it next needs an oil change, “was that a weird noise?”, and a mild fear that I'll get a flat. I've gotten a lot of inconvenient flats. That is, m car occupies a bit of worry and organizational space in my mind as well as taking some of my income to maintain. To be honest, all my possessions do! This may be more relevant to some people than others, but, for example, a new shirt can be pretty fun. But has it ever happened that a new shirt doesn't quite match any of your pants? And then you buy new pants? And then the pants are too long and you need other shoes? And then the shoes are perfect, but you need.....

Each possession comes with its own demands. I'm done harping on it, but I notice that Peter in leaving it all behind and following Jesus might well have been very blessed to walk away from having possessions. He isn't the only one who followed God that way, and he isn't the only one to be blessed by it. I will note that we we might all be happier if we had less things tying us down, but most of us are probably still not called to give it all away – at least not yet! Apparently, if God is going to ask that, God will at least prepare us and respond to our objections first!

In any case, God is calling people. The calls are to different things and in different ways, but they're around. I hope you'll be open to noticing when they happen in your life. Moreso, I hope you'll let go of any fear you have of what God might ask. It is true that God isn't afraid to ask beyond what we deem reasonable or easy, but its also true that God will prepare us for what we're asked to do. So there is no need to be afraid, and probably the only barrier to your call is your fear that keeps God away.

Like Peter was blessed to walk away from all he knew, and like that's really a very strange form of blessing, may God ask of you what is best for you – and may you be open to respond.

Amen